Down in the dumps

Rajagopal’s men go down to Japan’s Division Two side

PETALING JAYA: The national football team ended their playing tour of Japan with an embarrassing 5-0 thrashing by J-League Division Two outfit Tokyo Verdy at the Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo yesterday.

National coach Datuk K. Rajagopal’s team had lost their earlier two warm-up matches against DivisionOnesides Shimizu S-Pulse (2-0 on July 25) and Shonan Bellmare (5-0 on Saturday).

The Malaysians, preparing for the Asian Cup qualifying round match against Bahrain on Oct 15, will return home tomorrow to get ready for the high-profile friendly against Spanish giants Barcelona at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Aug 10.

The thrashing by a Japanese Division Two side is a huge concern as Rajagopal had the core of the national team with him in Japan.

Sadly, they fired blanks and conceded a whopping 12 goals in the three friendlies.

National team manager Datuk Subahan Kamal was not available for comment.

The squad have suffered 10 defeats in 13 matches this year.

Malaysia opened their 2015 Asian Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-0 loss to Qatar in February before bouncing back with a 2-1 win over Yemen in March.

Malaysia are third in the fourteam standings with three points from two matches.

The other teams in the group are leaders Bahrain and secondplaced Qatar.